Mission Package

The Navy rolled out its new Mine Warfare Mission Package for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) in a ceremony on Sept. 14 at the ARINC Engineering Services facility near Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Panama City, Fla. Congressman F. Allen Boyd, Jr. (D-Fla.-2), leader of the Mine Warfare Caucus, Dr. Delores Etter, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, and James Thomsen, Program Executive Officer Littoral and Mine Warfare, all spoke at the event.
"These mission modules will revolutionize warfighting in the littorals and will fill critical requirement gaps that exist in the fleet today. We urgently need them as we continue to fight the Global War on Terrorism," said Etter. "I am extremely proud to be here for the rollout of the first Mine Warfare Mission Package. This is a momentous occasion."
The Mine Warfare Mission Package is composed of sensors, weapons, unmanned vehicle technology and aircraft to locate, identify and destroy mines. It is designed to allow the Navy to clear sea mines, land U.S. Joint forces on hostile shores and operate ships in coastal areas known as the littorals.
The Mine Warfare Mission Package is modular, scalable and allows the Navy to stay ahead of the threat and assure safe passage for commercial and military vessels. The LCS seaframe hosts a single focused Mission Package to counter Mine Warfare (MCM), Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) or Surface Warfare (SUW) littoral threats.

The Navy will christen littoral combat ship (LCS) Montgomery Nov. 8 during a ceremony at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.
Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michelle Howard, will deliver the principal address at the ceremony. Mary Sessions, wife of U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (Alabama), will serve as the ship's sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted by Sessions breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow to formally christen the ship

Photo Credit: Austal
The Navy has awarded General Dynamics Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. the final design contracts that could lead to orders for the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Work’s contract is worth $79M, and Lockheed’s is valued at $47M.
The LCS is an entirely new breed of U.S. Navy warship. A fast, agile,
and networked surface combatant, LCS’s modular, focused-mission design will provide

Lockheed Martin Corporation – Maritime Systems & Sensors, Moorestown, N.J. ($46,501,821) and General Dynamics - Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine ($78,798,188) are each being awarded contract options for final system design with options for detail design and construction of up to two Flight 0 Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). "Today’s Littoral Combat Ship decision represents an important milestone for the warfighter and the acquisition team," said John Young

The Navy completed technical evaluation and training of the Remote Minehunting System (RMS) aboard USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) in Panama City on July 28. The evaluation enables the Navy to continue training on the system, designed as part of the mine warfare mission package for the littoral combat ship.
"This is all in preparation for the operational evaluation (OPEVAL) to be conducted in the South Florida Test Facility this September

GE Marine said its LM2500 marine engines will provide power for the U.S. Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), USS Cincinnati (LCS 20).
USS Cincinnati’s two engines will be manufactured at GE’s Evendale, Ohio facility. Each LM2500 engine produces more than 29,500 horsepower, propelling the ship to speeds in excess of 40 knots or 46 miles per hour, the engine manufacturer said.
“We are excited to learn that the U.S

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a new ship design concept being considered to combat emerging threats in the littoral. It will be a relatively small, focused-mission combat ship that will revolutionize the way the U.S. Navy builds and fights ships. LCS, with its high speed, shallow draft, and maneuverability, will be optimized to serve as a force-multiplier for other larger, multi-mission ships.
Old Problem/New Solution

The christening of the LCS-1.
Based on a comprehensive review of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) acquisition program, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced March 15 that he is prepared to lift a previously issued stop work order for construction of LCS 3.
The ship is currently under contract to Lockheed Martin Corp. Maritime Systems & Sensors unit, Moorestown, N.J. Lifting the stop work order is contingent upon the Navy and Lockheed Martin reaching agreement on a

The Navy's first littoral combat ship (LCS), USS Freedom (LCS 1), has successfully completed another major milestone in preparation for her upcoming maiden deployment.
Freedom conducted independent ship deployment training and certification at sea from Nov. 13-21, operating with ships from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) Carrier Strike Group during their Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) off the southeastern coast of the United States.

The U.S. Navy christened the future USS Detroit (LCS 7), the fourth Littoral Combat Ship of the Freedom variant, in a ceremony at Marinette Marine Shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin, Oct. 18.
The Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Ray Mabus, delivered the principal address at the ceremony, and Barbara Levin served as the ship's sponsor. As ship sponsor, Levin is considered a permanent member of the ship's crew and is expected to advocate for the well-being of both ship and crew

The Navy’s newest littoral combat ship (LCS), the future USS Little Rock (LCS 9), will be christened Saturday, July 18, during a 10 a.m. CDT ceremony at Marinette Marine Corporation's shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin. The event will be webcast live at http://navylive.dodlive

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today that the next Independence variant littoral combat ship will be named USS Cincinnati (LCS 20).
LCS 20 will be the fifth ship in naval history to be named Cincinnati with the first playing an integral part in the Civil War; the second

Warfighting ethos key to a distributed and lethal surface force
The annual Surface Navy Association (SNA) West Coast Symposium was held on the waterfront at Naval Station San Diego on July 16, and provided attendees an update on some key operational and career developments important to

USS Coronado (LCS 4) successfully completed final contract trials (FCT) June 6.
The trial, administered by the U.S. Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey, is part of a series of post-delivery test and trial events through which the ship and its major systems are exercised.

Ship construction programs move ahead, but it’s not smooth sailing.
Navies and Coast Guards everywhere face budgetary pressure, even in the U.S. which has the largest Navy in the world. The balance between desire for capacity and capability and pressure for affordability has never been

National security, health & engineering solutions company, Leidos, says it has under construction an autonomous unmanned vessel designed to track quiet diesel-electric submarines spanning miles of ocean depths for months at a time with minimal human input, and due for testing at sea in 2015.

NSWC Panama City hosted a two-week demonstration in July that verified Sailors' ability to conduct maintenance on the Littoral Combat Ship's Mine Countermeasure Mission Package without the assistance of civilian scientists or engineers.

It was the middle of May, and the littoral combat ship Independence was operating out of San Diego, testing components of the mine warfare mission package. The mission is one that, except for several extended overhaul periods, has consumed much of the ship’s operating time since the

The Navy will christen littoral combat ship (LCS) Detroit, on Oct. 18 during a ceremony at Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, will deliver the principal address at the ceremony, and Barbara Levin, wife of U.S

Littoral combat ship (LCS) USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) arrived in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations Dec. 4, marking a key initial milestone in its 16-month rotational deployment in support of the Indo-Asia-Pacific rebalance.
Building on USS Freedom's (LCS 1) inaugural 10-month deployment from

Istanbul University has received a multipurpose simulator complex from Transas Marine. The package includes a full mission navigational simulator NTPRO 5000 and a four-workplace multifunction simulator class that will enable training in shiphandling

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) has received a $21.6 million contract from the U.S. Navy for two additional Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mission packages As the mission package integrator, the company will deliver one mission package for surface warfare and one for mine countermeasures.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today that the next Freedom-variant littoral combat ship (LCS) will be named USS St. Louis.
The future USS St. Louis, designated LCS 19, will be the seventh ship to bear the name. The first St. Louis, a sloop of war, was launched in 1828

The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) completed Seakeeping and Structural Loads Trials, commonly referred to as Rough Water Trials (RWT) in late March the Navy reported May 21.
The U.S. Navy must demonstrate the seaworthiness and structural integrity of each new ship class